Sunday, 4 March 2012

Talk is cheap

"For too long, laws have taken away you freedom, interfered with your life and made it difficult for businesses to get on ... This Government is going to transform our politics so the state has far less control over you ... We’ll get rid of the unnecessary laws – and once they’re gone, they won’t come back."

CHEAP booze is finally facing the axe as David Cameron launches a twin blitz on drinks and fags.

The PM is ready to press ahead with plans to introduce minimum pricing in an attempt to stamp out binge drinking.

Meanwhile Mr Lansley will spearhead a TV ad offensive warning smokers not to light up near children.

The campaign will be followed by a ban on tobacco displays in supermarkets starting on April 6. Smaller shops will be forced to end their displays in April 2015.

Mr Lansley will also press ahead with plans to force cigarette firms to sell every brand in plain grey packets with a big health warning to make them less attractive to kids [erm, aren't we supposed to have a public consultation on that first? - CJS].

Mark Wallace tweeted this yesterday and I would suggest his info is spot on.

"Mark Wallace ‏ @wallaceme

Seems increasingly likely that Steve Hilton was effectively driven out by civil service opposition to any radical ideas, partic on the EU."

I was at an event being spoken to by Nigel Farage recently. After suggesting that Van Rompuy looked like "a low grade bank clerk" and "had the charisma of a damp rag" Nigel had a visit from a Sir Humphrey type from the Foreign Office. Sir Humphrey was at pains to ask Nigel not to be so beastly to the EU chappies.

We do live in a post democratic age, n'est pas? It is government running government.

About Me

Writer and researcher at the Institute of Economic Affairs. Blogging in a personal capacity.
Author of Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism (2015), The Art of Suppression (2011), The Spirit Level Delusion (2010) and Velvet Glove, Iron Fist (2009).

Elsewhere

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."